CHEST simulation courses, which are the most useful?

[darthmicrobius]

Hello,

Im a first year pulm/crit fellow looking to get the most out of my 3 years of training... Im considering doing a few of the CHEST live learning courses that they offer at their headquarters in Chicago and I was wondering if anyone who has taken these courses can offer their opinion of them... Specifically, I am wanting to take the mechanical ventilation course coming up and in Feb/2018 and the critical care ultrasound course in the early summer.... They will end up costing >1000$ each not including travel and accommodations and what not, so I want to make sure they will be totally worth it.

My PD said he took the airway mgmt course during his training and thought it was excellent and worth it, but I dont know anyone who has taken any others... Also, my hospital will not reimburse me at all for these, so they will be paid for from moonlighting $$...

Any advice is much appreciated...

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[tartesos]

Hello,

Im a first year pulm/crit fellow looking to get the most out of my 3 years of training... Im considering doing a few of the CHEST live learning courses that they offer at their headquarters in Chicago and I was wondering if anyone who has taken these courses can offer their opinion of them... Specifically, I am wanting to take the mechanical ventilation course coming up and in Feb/2018 and the critical care ultrasound course in the early summer.... They will end up costing >1000$ each not including travel and accommodations and what not, so I want to make sure they will be totally worth it.

My PD said he took the airway mgmt course during his training and thought it was excellent and worth it, but I dont know anyone who has taken any others... Also, my hospital will not reimburse me at all for these, so they will be paid for from moonlighting $$...

Any advice is much appreciated...

The Mech ventilation was useless to me as a 2nd y fellow. The us I didn't take but a co fellow like it and said it was worth it.


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[Bobblehead]

The critical care US course may be useful depending on how much your institution will teach you during your fellowship and how much you already know. If you know the basic differences between the 3 commonly used probes, how to adjust your gain and depth and recognize common artifacts you may not benefit as much from the course though. If you have access to an US I would suggest you start with watching some online videos and then practice image acquisition for a month. After that you may learn more by simply sitting with some of your home institution's echocardiographers (which is also free) and asking them questions about the various images they are reviewing. Then if you're calling a cardiology consult then put a probe on the chest and ask them a specific question about the image that you end up showing them when they get to the room. It's no different than asking for an opinion about an EKG really, just that the picture you're showing them is in motion. The course will only show you how to get the pictures, then it's the next thousand repetitions that help you gain competence.

If you're willing to spend $1000+ on a course and don't have access to an US you may want to save that money and get a Butterfly iQ assuming it's ever released and it turns out to be as good as the glossy website says it is.

Airway management may or may not be useful depending on what practice model you enter after training. You will always benefit from being able to use your own ultrasound in an outpatient or inpatient pulmonary consultant role and definitely in critical care.

And remember, ACCP is primarily offering courses to make money.